Lorena in one take.

SAN FRANCISCO Ballet principal Lorena Feijoo will be dancing--and speaking--on movie screens across the United States next spring. The Lost City, slated for an April release and set in revolutionary Havana, features the fiery Cuban as a Tropicana dancer who captures the romantic interest of actor/director Andy Garcia's character.

Feijoo shot the film in the Dominican Republic during 10 days in June, but she first met Garcia two years ago. The fellow expatriate was on location for a different film, shooting near the San Francisco Ballet Association Building, and asked board members if the company had any Cuban dancers. They swiftly obliged by taking Feijoo out of rehearsal and ushering her across the street in practice clothes.

"We talked about 'Where did you live in Cuba?' and did I know this neighborhood where he was born," said Feijoo, who left Cuba 13 years ago. "He was nostalgic and homesick."

Garcia soon offered her a role as a flamenco dancer in his next movie, but Feijoo did not feel authoritative in the style. He later brought his daughter to visit her backstage during a company tour to Los Angeles, and when a dancing role became open in The Lost City, he said the part was hers even before she took a screen test.

In the movie, Feijoo performs two numbers: a work on pointe choreographed with her mother, and an Afro-Cuban piece created with the help of modern dancer Neri Torres. And she has an intense backstage scene with Garcia. Among the lines, according to Feijoo, is that she asks, "Are you going to be watching?" and Garcia answers, "Always."

The crew dubbed her the "one-take woman," and the special effects supervisor was thrilled when she wrapped a scene involving an explosion On the first try. Feijoo said screen acting came naturally. "I tend to like story ballets like Giselle and Don Q because of the acting," she said. "And Andy was down to earth. Whenever he said 'Cut!' we spoke in Spanish."

Still in the prime of her career but mindful of retirement, Feijoo hopes to field more acting offers. She has also been cast in Scotty's Goal, a film about a Chinese ballerina who comes to San Francisco. The project's future is uncertain. "I think maybe The Lost City would be a good transition," she said. "You can't dance forever, unfortunately."